


The Most Surprising Thing

by Mireille



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-04-13
Updated: 2008-04-13
Packaged: 2019-03-21 08:00:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13736592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mireille/pseuds/Mireille
Summary: The thing was, he didn't like Larry all that much.





	The Most Surprising Thing

The thing was, he didn't like Larry all that much. Never had. Not in high school, even after Larry stopped trying to beat him up; not after graduation when Larry started showing up all gung-ho to kick evil undead ass; not even when Larry stuck around, helping them keep things under control, after Buffy died. Trust Larry with his life? Yes. Like him? No way.   
  
But Giles sent him to Cleveland, and Xander was glad enough to be closer to home that he wasn't going to complain about having to work with Larry.   
  
At least, not where Larry could hear.   
  


****

  
  
The thing was, he didn't mind Larry all that much. Not after the night they'd had a few beers--they were both lightweights when it came to drinking, it turned out, so a few was all it took to get them talking way too much--and Xander had told Larry all about the Slayers he hadn't found in time, and Larry told him about the girl he'd known for three years, before she'd been too badly outnumbered to stake all the vampires before they got her.   
  
After that, it was hard to keep disliking him, but Xander pretended to try.   
  


****

  
  
The thing was, he liked Larry a lot more than he should. Sometime in the past three or four years, Xander had become more or less okay with the idea that he wasn't as straight as he'd kept saying he was, but Larry was… well,  _Larry_. Even getting past the whole thing where Larry used to beat him up--because Xander had, mostly, gotten past it--there was the other thing where Larry had been the recipient of a lot of Xander's loudest denial over the years.   
  
After that, asking him out just seemed wrong, so Xander kept his mouth shut.   
  


****

  
  
The thing was, he hadn't  _meant_  to kiss Larry.   
  
But Amina hadn't come back from patrol, every hour she was missing making it harder to believe that they'd find her before it was too late. They'd finally gone back to their office, Larry looking up Amina's parents' number in Peoria while Xander stared at the phone and tried to figure out what the  _hell_  to say.   
  
And then Amina had called in, apologetic and  _so_  grounded but very much alive, and Xander had grabbed Larry by the shoulders and kissed him.   
  
It went over better than Xander would have expected.   
  


****

  
  
The thing was, he hadn't expected to be happy. He'd lost his sort-of-girlfriend and his home and his eye, all in one day, and after that, he figured that happiness was something that happened to other people.   
  
He definitely hadn't expected to be domestic. He'd run away from that before, after all, totally panicked about settling down with someone.   
  
And their version of "domestic" includes three teenaged girls living upstairs--not to mention the others who lived elsewhere in town--and an armory that could equip Monaco.   
  
But it works for them, and that's the most surprising thing of all. 

**Author's Note:**

> [me on tumblr](https://mireille719.tumblr.com)


End file.
